Month: September 2017

A year has passed since the much vaunted ‘surgical strikes’ across the line of control, in the wake of the Uri debacle

LATEST NEWS : On the intervening night of September 29 in 2016, the Indian Army conducted a surgical strike in Pakistan. The operation that went on for over five hours not only dealt a blow to terrorists planning attacks in India, it also avenged the Uri attack where 19 Army personnel were killed. This writer explains what India has, and has not achieved over the last one year.

A year has passed since the much vaunted ‘surgical strikes’ across the line of control, in the wake of the Uri debacle, in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed before the four attackers could be neutralized. Divergent claims have been made regarding the impact of the strikes beyond the initial claims of “significant casualties, caused to terrorists and those providing support to them.” Unconfirmed reports indicate that at least 50 terrorists and two Pakistan Army handlers were killed in these strikes; there were no Indian casualties.

No strategic or tactical initiative can be correctly assessed for its success or failure unless its original and intended objectives are clearly known. In November 2016, the government had informed the Lok Sabha that the strikes were conducted to target “launch pads along the Line of Control(LoC)”, where terrorists had “positioned themselves to carry out infiltration and conduct terrorist strikes in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and in various metros in other States. The operations were focused on ensuring that these terrorists do not succeed in their motive to cause destruction and endanger the lives of our citizens.”

Akash Ambani said the buyback offer would be available for customers of iPhone8 or iPhone 8 Plus

Latest news : Reliance Jio has a large wonder for the ones inquisitive about shopping for Apple’s iPhone 8 in India. Jio will buy lower back Apple Inc’s cutting-edge iPhone fashions from its clients within a yr for 70 percent of the retail rate of the telephone, the company announced on Friday.

Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani’s son Akash Ambani said the buyback provide would be to be had for clients of iPhone8 or iPhone eight Plus through Reliance virtual, Jio.com or the Jio store.

Below this scheme, users will receive 70 percent of the acquisition rate of the gadgets upon using it with a Jio SIM card and returning it after a yr. In different approaches, this buyback scheme lets in iPhone customers to get 70 according to cent in their money back once they improve to next iPhone.The buyback provide is legitimate for three hundred and sixty five days.

This partnership between Apple and Jio brings agencies which have revolutionised their respective industries, because we each think consumer first,” stated the Ambani scion.

The unfortunate incident took place on foot overbridge linking Elphinstone Road and Parel suburban stations in Mumbai

The cause of the stampede was being probed. Emergency relief and medical teams were rushed to the station.

“Of the injured 20 people have serious injuries, rest have minor injuries. Can’t comment more right now,” said Niket Kaushik, GRP Commissioner.

The tragedy took place amid rain in the city around 10.40 am when the foot overbridge was heavily crowded, a police official said. Railway PRO Anil Saxena said, “It seems all started when someone slipped because of the wet floor.”

Police suspect a short-circuit with a loud sound near the FOB led to panic and people started running, resulting in the stampede.

Three persons were brought dead to the KEM Hospital in Parel. Besides, around 20 persons were injured and rushed to various hospitals, an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s disaster control room said.

The company has incorporated customer feedback in bringing in changes to the vehicle

Latest news : The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) is looking to bolster its position in the premium crossover segment with the introduction of an upgraded version of S-Cross model, a senior company official said.

MSI and its suppliers have invested Rs 100 crore in development of the upgraded version of the S-Cross, which will now come with a single diesel engine option of 1.3 litre with smart hybrid technology.

While the company has already opened bookings for the new vehicle, the prices are expected to be announced in coming days.

“We do expect the new S-Cross to add volume to our flagship product of Nexa chain. The earlier version was selling around 2,000-2,500 units a month and with the new one, we expect to do more than that,” Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, R S Kalsi told PTI here.

A dedicated exchange for physical gold is expected to pave the way for standard gold pricing practices in India, apart from bringing in transparency into a market which sees large cash transactions

LATEST NEWS : The world Gold Council (WGC) plans to shape a committee quickly to help installation India’s first spot gold exchange within 12 to 18 months, a senior official of the enterprise body said on Thursday.A committed trade for physical gold is anticipated to pave the way for trendy gold pricing practices in India, other than bringing in transparency right into a market which sees big cash transactions.

“we will be taking lead in forming the committee, so that it will have all of the stakeholders,” Somasundaram PR, managing director of the WGC’s Indian operations, informed Reuters.

The committee, that’s in all likelihood to be formed inside the December region, will not installation the exchange. it’ll provide guidance in setting up the change, he stated, whilst freeing a WGC report highlighting the want for a dedicated spot gold exchange within the country.

In 2015, Indian authorities had floated the idea of setting up a national gold trade.

India’s push for an alternate follows the gold monetisation and sovereign bond schemes released in last few years, designed to mobilise the united states of america’s gold hoard and decrease imports of the valuable steel that weighs at the usa’s change deficit.

GE won a $2.6 billion agreement in 2015 to deliver 1,000 diesel locomotives – the largest direct funding in India with the aid of a U.S. company and the primary deal awarded to a foreign company after India allowed one hundred percentage foreign investment in its railways – a part of efforts to overhaul its creaking, colonial-technology infrastructure.

however the railways ministry said ultimate week it wouldn’t need diesel in spite of everything – hoping to shop on fuel and maintenance fees – and advised GE may need to make electric powered engines instead.

electric engines are typically used for passenger trains, even as diesel is used for freight. around 25-30 percentage of India’s locomotives are diesel-engined.

The coverage shift could fee New Delhi in repayment – GE is already building a factory for the diesel locos – but executives and buyers say it is also an essential test for a central authority that wishes overseas funding to create jobs and reboot boom ahead of a 2019 standard election.

In recent weeks, most Opposition parties, but particularly the Congress, have chosen to focus their attack on the Modi government on its handling of the economy, lack of jobs and farm distress

LATEST NEWS : Former finance minister and Bharatiya Janata celebration (BJP) veteran Yashwant Sinha’s modern day criticism of the Narendra Modi government’s moves has given the Congress birthday celebration, which has struggled to build a marketing campaign around the present status quo’s disasters on the financial the front, a prime shot inside the arm.

while Sinha responded the decision of his “national obligation” to talk up, BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy and Sangh Parivar fellow vacationer S Gurumurthy have also spoken earlier approximately the negative state of the economy.

Congress chief and some other former finance minister P Chidambaram, who held a press briefing later inside the day to highlight the monetary slowdown the united states turned into dealing with, backed Sinha’s remarks. “we’re glad that Yashwant Sinha has echoed our grievance. Sinha stated the fact about the economic system. The Congress has, for almost 18 months, highlighted those very grave weaknesses in economic system. We had been advised, in effect, to close up,” Chidambaram stated.

As for Sinha, who penned his complaint in an editorial written for The Indian explicit, he isn’t completed yet. he’s slated to be one of the speakers at Congress chief Manish Tewari’s ebook launch next month.

The government, on its component, rejected Sinha’s critique, saying the arena recognizes India’s boom momentum. “the sector acknowledges India is one of the quickest-growing economies. no one need to neglect it. Our photograph at the worldwide degree is very sturdy,” home Minister Rajnath Singh said.

Mittal noted that building infrastructure in telecom sector, like in other sectors, will take time

LATEST NEWS : Chairman of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Bharti Mittal on Wednesday stated that amid infrastructural development in the telecom quarter, the organisation can be investing around Rs. 18, 000 to twenty,000 crore this 12 months toward the identical.

Speaking at the Indian mobile Congress 2017 (IMC) here, Mittal referred to that even as the authorities is aware of the challenges that the telecom area is going through, constructing infrastructure, like in other sectors, will take time.

“India’s time has come to show off increase in digital economic system. authorities is acutely privy to the shortages of the telecom quarter. Rs 50,000-60,000 crore is going into constructing hard infrastructure every 12 months. however, building Infrastructure, like in different sectors, will take time,” he stated.

In addition, he known as for aid from the authorities while laying down infrastructure, including that ‘crimson carpet treatment’ may be required from states and municipalities to lay fibre and cellular towers. He additionally stated that government regulations will determine how speedy the virtual wave will unfold.

“we can need government aid even as we lay down infrastructure,” he said.

referring to his ‘exact friend’ Mukesh Ambani’s stance on taking part for the benefit of the customers, Mittal highlighted that competing for value is taking location, and there’s a want to collaborate for infrastructural enhancement, including that ‘nobody can do it alone’.

Aadhaar now has scaled to over one billion people, rivaling the growth of other platform innovations

India’s Aadhaar identity system opponents the boom of different platform innovations like home windows, Android or facebook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said.

Nadella, in his book ‘Hit Refresh’, which changed into launched for the duration of the continued Microsoft Ignite 2017 conference, has praised India’s leap forward in the digital and technological area.

“Aadhaar now has scaled to over one thousand million humans, rivaling the increase of different platform improvementswhich includes windows, Android or fb, the 50-yr-vintage wrote in his ebook that hit the book stores today.

He praised the creation of the brand new virtual surroundings IndiaStack.

IndiaStack is a set of APIs (application programming interface) that permits governments, groups, startups and developers to utilise an unique digital Infrastructure to remedy Indias difficult problems in the direction of presence-much less, paperless, and cashless carrier delivery.

“China strategically used the worldwide supply chain and their very own domestic marketplace to enlarge their comparative advantage and bootstrap their financial boom, the India-born CEO cited.

“The combination of industrial policy, public area funding, and entrepreneurial energy is what many other nations will also appearance to copy from Chinas fulfillment. I see the beginnings of this in India with the introduction of the new digital ecosystem known as IndiaStack, Nadella said.

India looking to position itself as a leader in 5G technology

LATEST NEWS : As India pursuits to grow to be a frontrunner in 5G, the government is operating on to create a Rs 500-crore fund for improvement of the technology and it has also created a excessive-level committee to paintings on a roadmap for the roll-out of 5G by 2020.

As consistent with officers, India doesn’t want to miss the opportunity this time like in case of 2G and 3G, in which it lagged in the back of different countries. For 5G, India wants to grow to be a leader and have its very own requirements and IPR that turns into a part of the 5G international standards.

“We need to make certain that popular essential patents, amongst different matters, additionally have an Indian IPR,” Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan informed business standard.

India is asking at 5G technology as a first-rate possibility in terms of providing services tailor-made for rural India like telehealth, tele-education and bandwidth-heavy applications that may drive improvement in these areas. The 5G generation is expected to play a massive function in this regard.